Weekend of Celebration

Not only are we ecstatic that little man is hanging in mommy's womb so well, but we had several birthday markers over the past five days. Thursday, the 3rd, was our puppy Juno's 2nd birthday. We are so excited that the 2 year age has finally hit for our rambunctious white lab. For those of you that don't know, labs typically don't pull out of their puppy phase until they hit 2 or 2.5. Juno has been a handful, to say the least, over the past two years. Even my mom can attest to her devilish ways. If any of you have seen or read "Marley and Me", Juno is a clone of Marley. Friday night we celebrated with our traditional doggy meatloaf. The puppies go crazy for it. Then Saturday Bella Boo turned 18 months. As I mentioned the other day, she continues to amaze us with every bit of knowledge she is sucking up and exhibiting. But the kicker comes tomorrow. I am officially a Thirty-Something as I hit the BIG 3-0! Of course with my birthday falling on a weekday, we spent the weekend enjoying an early birthday celebration. The first part of my birthday present arrived on Friday with a FedEx package. The doorbell rang early in the morning and I thought it was Bella's former babysitter coming to say hello (she just got back from Taiwan). To my surprise there was a big package addressed to me that I wasn't expecting, which is always a happy sight. I immediately looked at the title of the sender and in shock saw it was from ESSA BAGEL, New York City. Chris and I try to make a trip to NYC each year. While in NYC you have to find a good bagel shop and on each of our three visits we have devoured ESSA BAGEL. The last two years we have gone in June for our birthdays. Now, since we can not go to NYC this year with our precious baby boy pending arrival, I mentioned to Chris about a month ago that the only thing I wanted for my birthday was a package of ESSA BAGELS. The great thing about this little place is that they overnight bagels and cream cheese to any sucker willing to pay the price for shipping. So my fabulous husband was a sucker for his aging pregnant wife; although he swears Bella is the one that placed the order. That evening we went to Hobby Lobby to pick up a couple of items. As you can see below, Little Miss was a little rambunctious herself.



Saturday we went to one of my favorite places in town for lunch, an old time soda shop called Grahams; fabulous greasy food and milk shakes. Afterward we went shopping for my other present from Bella. The catch is, Chris found a 50% off coupon for one of my favorite boutiques in town, so I got an extra gift! Anyone that knows me well enough knows I LOVE shoes...you can only imagine what I picked out, a cute pair of black/cream/red flats to accommodate my coming pregnancy months. But Chris was extra sweet and picked out a very cute top to throw into the gift pile!!! Then our birthday outing led us to my FAVORITE place in Midland...Sweet Soul Dessert Bar. It is this amazing little, simple bakery that makes delicious cookies/brownies/cakes that I go to at least once a week for my chocolate chip cookie fix (this is probably the only thing about Midland I will truly miss when we relocate). Even though Chris doesn't eat chocolate, he ordered me a small German Chocolate cake (my favorite). This was about all the out and about I could handle, so we headed back home for a little rest and some cake for Bella and me.




We topped off the birthday night with a mommy and daddy quick date at a steak house, The Barn Door (thanks Donny). It is one of those traditional Texas steak houses where the atmosphere is just as much a part of the experience as is the food. The grill was open to the restaurant to watch the meat being prepared, probably the best filet I have ever had, as a result when we got home I could smell the yummy goodness in my clothes and hair. We were lucky to have this date because our babysitter over the last few months, Katie, was sweet enough to offer to watch Bella while we grabbed a bite to eat. I was very thankful because she is leaving for the summer and I wanted her to be able to spend some extra time with Bella. She has been amazing and worked very well with Bella to progress her development in these past few critical months. We are fortunate that Ellen is back from Taiwan and will be working with Bella again. We love both of these young ladies very much for all the great work they do with our little angel.

We probably should have gotten more pictures over such a fun weekend than what we did...but that's the point, we were having fun and didn't take pictures. Thanks to everyone for all the early birthday wishes. Love and Peace to all!